Shirun
Most well known for the land to its north east; An entire borough strung across with thick black webs, tunnelling and spreading, home now to spiders the size of dogs, the 'Aantal'. The Aantal are terrible gossips, and if you could figure out how to speak to them they'd be so happy at having a new thing to gabble with that they may not even paralyse you in order to suck out your liquefied insides. They're also unusually happy with living in such close proximity to other spiders. They'll still eat each other when they need to, but they'll be oh so dreadfully sorry about it. If you're unlucky enough to live near the Black Web, you quickly learn how to barricade your home for the night and sleep with a big fuck-off knife beneath your pillow. The worst part is clearing away the webs outside with pike and halberd in the morning, they just get it everywhere, and the damned things keep coming back, chittering like disappointed old biddies. It's a damn good thing that the river acts as a natural barrier to the rest of town. Guards, clad in the woven and toughened black silk armour, double their watch on the bridges at sundown. It's no surprise they've settled here, their silk is rare and tough, farmed by the settlers of Shirun, the town's crest even depicting the Black Web itself. The bountiful and lucrative exports of this material come at a cost, however. To keep the Aantal contempt they are to be fed. After all, plump spiders produce the finest silks. The locals provide livestock, commonly calfs and the young or maimed sheep. Although these offering have to be supplemented by human flesh, often criminals as their death sentence. Occasionally, however, fresh Elven females are requested as a delicacy to the Aantal. An annual ritual is also held to celebrate the beginning of the years biggest harvest: an Elven virgin expected to be presented at the start of every autumn. It's also no surprise the spiders developed this fine taste. To the North East of the town, Shirun, is the ruins of Strattleborough. Situated to the south west of the border to the enchanted wood elf forests. The ruins were left alone- believed to have been completely plundered and reduced to a decrepit rubble of worthlessness that now resembles an labyrinth of foul stench and dampened tombs. A few (incredibly dangerous) channels of the underground chasms remain unexplored, however, and are expected to be infested with spiders and other beasts. These creatures famously once inhabited the 'Dungeons of Strattleborough'; commonly referred to as 'Haunted Hell' when they were in use, hundreds of years ago. Few daring Elves would venture here in search of older treasures, but those that returned did so with empty pockets. More recently new species of spiders have been increasingly commonly found to wander the Wood Elf forests, close to Strattleborough yet around the edges where their magical influence is at it's weakest. It is therefore speculated that the Aantal had once co-habited the dungeons with these other spiders, but have since emigrated south and settled; comfortable their symbiotic relationship among the peoples of Shirun.